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For its manufacturers, the impression that dark chocolate is nutritious has become sweet news indeed. And the response has been that Americans have certainly begun to consume more of it -- with bittersweet results. In 1995, 20 percent of Americans preferred dark chocolate, as compared to 80 percent for milk chocolate. But by 2005, tastes had changed, with 37 percent...

An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Or, what appears to be more accurate: An apple peel a day might help keep cancer at bay, according to a new Cornell study. Cornell researchers have identified a dozen compounds -- triterpenoids -- in apple peel that either inhibit or kill cancer cells in laboratory cultures. Three of the compounds have...

A new study in mice raises a tantalizing possibility that humans may one day be able to eat any kind of fat they want without raising their risk of heart disease. "We deleted an enzyme in mice, and they could eat any type of fat and not get heart disease," stated Lawrence Rudel, Ph.D., a professor of comparative medicine. "If...

The use of herbs as medicine is as old as recorded time. From the pages of the Bible, in medieval texts and in documents down through the ages to more recent times, the preventative, curative, restorative benefits of herbs and other plants with medicinal properties have been noted and touted. Today, herbs and plants are being given serious thought and...

Using unusually rigorous scientific conditions and measures, Johns Hopkins researchers have shown that the active agent in "sacred mushrooms" can induce mystical/spiritual experiences descriptively identical to spontaneous ones people have reported for centuries. The resulting experiences apparently prompt positive changes in behavior and attitude that last several months, at least. The agent -- a plant alkaloid called psilocybin -- mimics...